Tracing Reflection

The act of tracing a comic for this assignment was a really good brainstorming technique for me. Before tracing the panels, I had a theme in my head that I wanted to write about, however I didn’t have any specific details in mind that I could talk about. As I traced the different panels, it gave me time to think about what I was going to write about. By the time I had finished annotating, I felt confident that I could refer to certain details from the page to support the theme I wanted to talk about. Actually writing the essay was probably one of the easier tasks of this assignment. I had never written inductively before but I believe it was an easier process because I didn’t have to worry about an extra intro or conclusion paragraph. The one comic technique that I really took away from reading these comics was that position of the characters in the panel. Height differences matter, facial expressions matter, it’s as if you’re watching a movie and you have to look out for certain small details that give clues to how the characters interact. Overall, I feel as if my knowledge of graphic novels has expanded and I am better equipped with reading techniques the next time I read a graphic novel.